Dr. Schittly recalled how crowds in Biafra, desperately seeking medicine or care, gathered outside the hospital each day. "We had to make choices that were impossible to make," he said in an interview for a 2023 documentary. "Whoever went with us would live; whoever we didn’t take would die." This stark reality highlights the extreme conditions faced by medical professionals during conflicts and their moral dilemmas.
Dr. Schittly's experiences with the Red Cross in Biafra in 1968 transformed his medical career and deepened his commitment to humanitarian work. His childhood, shadowed by wartime experiences, ignited his passion for providing aid in crisis zones.
After the French doctors returned home, Dr. Schittly and Bernard Kouchner helped form a group called GIMCU in 1970, which laid the groundwork for the eventual establishment of Médecins Sans Frontières, emphasizing the urgency and importance of medical assistance in conflict areas.
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